Kasi-Blog

Chris George sits in a corner at the Sunday Up Market on Brick Lane. He has a table of T-Shirts and Bags in front of him, which he created himself and normally sells them somewhere in the Camden Lock Market. Chris is the kind of guy who should be a hero for his generation, because he does what he wants and listens to good music. Read on, my friend »

I sometimes drift off to Youtube when I should be doing more productive things. I love the attitude of this lady in the clip.

Via Zen is Calm in the Chaos

Barack Obama will be announcing his pick for Vice-Presidential Nominee first to his supporters. I think that is an extraordinary move for two reasons.

First of all, it allows him to update his database of contacts and email addresses. Even though I was already signed up, I had to provide my contact data one more time. I assume that Obama is going to use this extended database for fund raising in the fall.

Secondly, it’s nice that his supporters will know something ahead of the media, although I suspect that every single journalist in the states will sign up already.

Can German parties learn from that lesson? Would be nice if Kurt Beck or Walter Steinmeier announce their decision on the candidate for the German SPD to the Party Members first.

I personally think that Kathleen Sibelius will be Obamas VP Choice, because of her profile as Governor of Kansas and her appeal to Clinton-Supporters (admittedly, there are some Clinton supporters who have warned Obama to pick a female VP other than Hillary Clinton, but I don’t think such a threat really had an impact).

Was McCain trying to compliment Paris Hilton by comparing her to a succesful presidential candidate capable of shooting three-pointers?

I had a look at the legal document from the Facebook-Lawsuit against StudiVZ. It seems that their main argument is that StudiVZ looks and feels like Facebook, that the StudiVZ Founders used their access to Facebook to copy the website, and that Facebook has been damaged as a result of that.

It is an honor for me that the Facebook Lawyers found it worthy to quote an earlier blog post on the StudiVZ-debate in their case against the German Social Network. Although some people at StudiVZ have not behaved nicely in the past, I still don’t know whether I agree with the lawcase or not.

There is no doubt that StudiVZ copied Facebook, but I think it is less clear that Facebook really was damaged by this. I don’t think it is possible to confuse the two websites: even though they look similar and have (better, had) the same look and feel, I think that StudiVZ and Facebook are quite distinct.

Especially after the introduction of new features, such as the Friend’s Feed, Facebook already gained a clear advantage over StudiVZ. This advantage is increasingly recognized by German users. My impression is that StudiVZ users are massively transfering to Facebook.

The only disadvantage that Facebook might have is that due to the data leaks and the scandals caused by StudiVZ, more people became reluctant to sign up to a new social network. Facebook could argue that StudiVZ made it establishing social network in Germany more difficult. However such a claim is not plausible given the tremendous success of other recently established social networks, such Wer-kennt-wen.de, which mostly targeted non-student usergroups.

I am not sure why Facebook is sueing StudiVZ now. I heard various explanations: they want to raise attention to Facebook, put pressure on Holtzbrinck to sale StudiVZ or are upset because
Facebook is not growing as fast as it could. I personally think that none of these explanations are true.

Firstly, a trial like this raises little interest from the average user, even if bloggers and journalists write about the trial. Press coverage does not induce viral growth, it only feeds on growth. What really produces growth in social networks is a mixture of the right network at the right time with the right people. Such a combination is hard to achieve and trials have no impact on this.

Secondly, I don’t think that Facebook is interested in buying StudiVZ because it would take too much effort to integrate the database of StudiVZ users into Facebook and such a process would clearly conflict with the Terms of Usage of StudiVZ.

Thirdly, I don’t think that Facebook is particularly concerned about its slower growth in Germany. Social networks are not directly competitors, because people use a few social networks. What Facebook ought to be concerned about is that the German Social Network landscape is highly fractured and, unlike in other countries, Facebook is not the main social network for high school students, university students, young employees, families etc.

Thus maybe Facebook is disappointed about its revenues from ads in Germany and other European countries, and tries to eliminate a competitor in the social network ad market. But I have to admit, this is only speculation on my parts.

Lastly, what makes me wonder is that if Facebook really would be after Copycats, it could easily go after sites like www.vkontakte.ru which is similar to Facebook even with regards to the colour.

Apparently, Facebook used one of my articles in their case against StudiVZ. Fascinating. Have to follow-this up, right now I am in Berlin organizing my transfer back from Cambridge to the best city on earth.

Days are getting crazy before the deadline, another night without sleep is behind me. But it’s been productive, finished the chapter on financial cooperation in Asia and discovered who is the master mind behind all the things that I write about in my Thesis (G8 and Local currency bond markets): the former prime-minister of Thailand, Thaksin. Going to get in touch with the German Embassy in Thailand today to see if there have been extensive contacts between Thailand and Germany during the G8 presidency. Anyway, back to no sleeping, my friend Stefan is currently is enjoying himself in Vietnam and probably when he goes to bed I get up and when I go to bed, he gets up. And on no sleeping, Telekom put Paul Potts, winner of “Britain’s Got Talent in 2007″ into their new TV-spot. I really like it the spot, it gives me goose bumps everytime I hear it. Paul Potts was working at a mobile phone shop before he auditioned for the TV. Enjoy.

This video gets me going when I sit on my desk night and day working on the final stages of my dissertation. It’s about the United for Change Meetings that took place all across the States last weekend. Obama enthusiasts get together with other Democrats, Republicans and Independents and they discuss the American Elections.

The magic is that the discussions in these meetings are completele spontaneous. They cannot be planned by the central campaign office, they can maybe provide them with background material, such as the DVD mentioned in the film.

ut there are no professional spin doctors who can slam down the arguments, it’s really up to the people to inform themselves and have a meaningful debate.

But most importantly, it gives neighbours the incentive to meet again. When I lived in the US, I noticed how little contact the neighbours had among each other, even next door neighbours. Sure enough, the neighbourhood knew each others names, but discussions about politics did not take place.

If people came to meetings and learn the value of a neighbourhood community again, this will be more powerful than any ad campaign or email message. The message that it’s cool to be an Obamaniack will spread virally faster than any other political message.

The following description of the Model G8 Youth Summit Project was drafted by me and Tom Hartley. It is also availabe as a PDF-Document, as well as Previous Communiqués from 2007 and 2008.

Model G8 Youth Summit – Yokohama, 10th of March-15th of March 2008

Introduction

The Model G8 Youth Summit took place in Yokohama, Japan, and was organized by students from Keio University in Tokyo. About 80 students from the G8 countries, observer countries and organizers participated in the event.

The Model G8 Youth Summit is already the third summit of its kind. The first Model G8 Youth Summit was convened in April 2006 in St. Petersburg, Russia, during the Russian presidency of the Meeting of the Group of Eight Heads of State/Government (G8). The second Model G8 Youth Summit took place in Berlin, Germany, during the German presidency of the G8. The third G8 Youth Summit was organized in Japan because of the Japanese presidency of the G8.

Organization

The Model G8 Youth Summit is organized by student volunteers from the host country with the help of national student teams in the other G8 countries. It receives support from public and private organisations, universities and government agencies, yet the complete format and content is decided upon by the students themselves.

The national teams are responsible for recruiting their national delegation to the summit, raising funds and establishing contacts to public and private sponsors. The host team is responsible for organizing the summit, accommodation, communication and preparation of the summit.

Read on, my friend »

Melina Gehring, who is studying together with her boyfriend here in Cambridge, has written a wonderful article about the May Ball Season that has occupied Cambridge.

I had the chance to visit four events: the June Event at Emmanuel College, the May Balls at Clare College and St. Johns, and last night the June Event at my own college, Trinity Hall. Melina is right that these Balls are a really unique experience: champagne, cocktails food at every corner, music of all kinds, comedians, fairground attractions.

The luxus is reflected in the Ticket prices, starting at around 50 Pounds and running up to sometimes three times as much at the more fancier May Balls of Trinity and St. Johns. That is the reason why a lot of Cambridge students, including me, work for half a night at the balls and then get the rest of the night off, saving the ticket price while still be able to enjoy the good times.

May Balls (even though they take place in June) mark the end of the academic year in Cambridge. Next week, undergraduates will get their certificate and leave the university, the last two week exams were written and May Bumps allowed to relieve some of the tension built up through the year.

The May Balls requires festive clothing and yes, from a German perspective the whole affair sounds very posh. The May Ball at St. John’s College is considered to be one of the best parties in the world. But my impression was not that the May Balls are celebrating some sort of elite-thinking, like Melina suggests in her article.

Cambridge is simply a university where most of its traditions and social occasions have had centuries to develop. The May Balls are a way to celebrate a student party like they would have been celebrated a hundred or two hundred years ago (except that most Colleges did not admit female students before the second half of the 20th century). At Clare May Ball, I could listen to excellent piano music at five in the morning, and I was not the only admirer. Most students preferred some quiter music at the end of the night. Yesterday, I went to a packed concert of a young folk singer, which was really a counterbalance to the Techno and Rock bands playing in other parts of the College.

What I want to say is: yes, it is possible to behave like a complete snob in Cambridge, exaggerating poshness and feeling detached from the rest of the world. But my impression is that this is a matter of choice. It’s also possible to simply have a good time with your friends, most people here are really normal in the sense that they don’t think that they belong to a special group of people who deserve to study here and only here. Most people I met here are aware that Cambridge comes with lots of really strange traditions, like the May Balls. But the real world is not a May Ball, and I think everybody is aware of that.

Copyright James Cruise

We got bumped on Friday and Saturday by some really fast crews. It turned out that all three crews which bumped us got their “blades” in the end, which means they bumped other crews each day, had the glory of taking home their flag and a blade from their boat will be “retired” with their names on it and us as their “victims”. But it is certainly not a shame being bumped by three outstanding crews, it’s almost like losing to the Soccer World Cup Champion Italy in the Semi-Finals.

The crash happened almost after we got bumped. After one crew bumps the other crew, both crews have to try to get to the left or right side of the river as quick as possible to allow the oncoming boats to race through. We did that, the crew behind us did it, but then another crew got bumped at almost the same spot on the river, which meant that by now there were two boats on either side.

Then a fifth boat came, struck the blades of one of the parking boats, could not go on and had to wait as well. Meanwhile the river was getting so narrow that we all had to tuck in our blades as much as we could. The river is only 20 to 30 Meters wide, probably even less at the bends, and a rowing boat is probably about 5 Meters wide.

Anyway, on the way home, the mood was gloomy first, but we cheered up on the way and sang tributes to our coaches and our cox San.

So, on rowing. Great fun, even though it is quite stressful sometimes with the dissertation, but early morning outings were not too bad actually. It’s a good start into the day. Our boat really formed a team throughout this term, and now we are all excited because of the bumps, the races on the River Cam.

The way this works is that about 15 boats line up on the Cam, one after the other with about one-and-a-half boat length between them. After the start, each boat tries to ‘bump’ against the boat in front of them while trying to avoid being ‘bumped’ by the boat behind them.

Yesterday we got bumped by a crew from another college, which means the two crews stop and get on the side while the race continues. The next day the two crews switch places in the line-up. So all crews which got bumped move down, all crews which were able to bump, move up.

There is however a third possibility, which happened today. The crew behind us got bumped from their boat behind them, which meant that there was a huge distance to next boat chasing us. The crew in front of us bumped the boat in front of them, moved to the site, so were chasing a boat that was about six boat lenghts away from us.

Normally bumps are over really quick. We were almost getting bumped because we ‘caught a crab’ at the start, which means that one of our rowers couldn’t get his oar (in rowing terms: his blade) out of the water on time. Because the boat moves forward and we sit backwards, this means that his oar was slammed into his chest and he had to really quick pull it out of the water and get back into the rhythm.

Normally if something like that happens, the crew is screwed, but we managed to recover, race away from our pursuer. However, at that time the two crews in front of us were already parking at the side of the river because of their bumps, but we still had to race all the way to the finish which was probably about two miles down the river.

This meant we had to continue in full speed for about 6 to 8 minutes, probably even longer. Now my arms hurt a lot, but it was a great fun. On the bank, people were cheering and screaming “Tit Hall” (the nickname for Trinity Hall”). Afterwards, time for cookies, a shower, and back to the computer for some work.

Yesterday we got bumped after about 1 minute into the race, today we were all a little bit gloomy. We star

I finally understand the psychology of rowing. More after I finished May Bumps and dissertation.

“go to work, send your kids to school
follow fashion, act normal
walk on the pavements, watch T.V.
save for your old age, obey the law
Repeat after me: I am free”

Graffiti in Bristol, UK via Flickr

This year I had the honour to play the role of Gordon Brown at the Model G8 Youth Summit in Japan. Before our delegation left, I sent a letter to Downing Street 10 and asking Gordon Brown to be the patron of our delegation. He replied now (he is probably very busy). Incidentally, he send off the letter on my birthday. Quite amazingly he also signed in person. Very nice.

It’s getting warmer, so I fled the library, joined some eager Puntians, steadied myself on the “Ferry” (a punting boat for 13 people) and to the tune of Gerry and the Pacemakers pushed the joyful gang – which was sipping champagne and eating strawberries – down the river.

Great concert last night of the Trinity Hall Music Society. Mostly undergraduates performing wonderful music.

First, a truly great clarinet concerto by Aaron Copland. Some people said that the soloist did a great job, but the orchestra had a hard time following the soloists. Below is a version by the London Symphony Orchestra.

Next, Chason de Matin from Edward Elgar

Beethovens Piano Concert No 3. (below the 3rd movement) with some great skills by the soloist and the orchestra being on the same level.

Finally, a bombastic English Folksong Suite by Vaughan Williams, who is also a Cambridge students. Somehow the theme sounds familiar.

Yesterday was a a very sunny day so I decided to leave email as it is, leave my studies as it is, cycle around Cambridge a little bit, buy the ingredients for the birthday cake and then waited for people to arrive at the party. I had a great time and want to thank everybody who came along.

Because of globalization and time zones, the first congratulations reached me already on April 15th and the last ones reached me this morning. Thanks to everybody who thought of me, I’ll try to respond very soon!

When I was 8 years old, I thought that by the time that I am 28, I will be a multi-trillion-zillionaire with a huge house on a cliff, my own rollercoaster and hundreds of cars. Right now, I have a bike, live in a graduate student accomodation and do not even own most of the books in my room (because they are from the library, of course). Well, what would I do with hundreds of cars, anyway?

However, when trying to look back, it seems I’ve done a lot of interesting things, but not always followed a very consistent course in life. But I got to know a lot of very interesting people, and I guess I have to be thankful for that.

Today I was at a workshop in London in the Finance district not far away from the Bank of England. The workshop took place at a very noble club.

The most fascinating things were the toilets, however. Old tiles and large mirrors – it has the poshness of a 19th century bath. With free shoe cream for black shoes. I don’t know the English word for that, but the boxes above the pissoirs were out of glas so you could see the water flushing down.

The most exotic thing: a large leather chair in one corner. You sit on it, and it shows your weight in stones. Next to it: two leather-bound books with the accumulated weight statistics of the members of the club going back all the way to 1892. What a treasure.